In modern firearms the magazine is used as a container for bullets, which are stored in it until use. A magazine also serves as a feeder of bullets into the firearm's muzzle.
Firearms are lethally dangerous, and many cases were inadvertent firing had caused injuries or deaths are reported. In many of these cases it appeared that the persons handling the firearms were unaware of the presence of bullets in the firearm's muzzle.
In order to address this problem in some new designs of firearms a pin was added to the body of the firearm, which protrudes when a bullet is present inside the muzzle, indicating the dangerous status of the firearm. This is indeed a good solution, but is only applicable in newly manufactured firearms, and renders the manufacture of such firearms more costly and complicated. However, this solution is not applicable in existing firearms, and not for all types and models of firearms, like rifles, machine guns, sub-machine guns etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,587,756 (Jakubaschk et al.) disclosed a magazine for small arms with indication for the loading status of the magazine, comprising a viewing opening through which the follower spring is visible, and by counting the number of coils visible, the number of bullets inside the magazine may be determined.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,953 (Musgrave) a sonic indicator was provided in a magazine, indicating that the magazine is empty when rattling.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,313 (Musgrave) disclosed a magazine with indicators indicating if the magazine is empty, if it contains only one bullet or if it is full.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,139 (Marzzoco) disclosed an indicator device incorporated with the barrel of a shotgun, indicating the presence of a cartridge in the cartridge chamber of the gun.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,100,691 (Wicklund) an indicator is incorporated in the gun breech bolt indicating the presence of a bullet inside.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,679 (Wollack et al.) there was disclosed a magazine with an elongated indicator member attached to the follower and projecting outside the body of the magazine so that the length of the indicator member indicates how many bullets remain in the aperture. The indicator member is provided with a series of knots at predetermined intervals so that the number of knots on the portion of the indicator member projecting outside the body of the magazine equals the number of bullets remaining in the magazine. This is indeed a nice way of finding out how many bullets are inside the magazine at a given time, yet this information is not really what interests the weapon bearer. It is by far more important for the gun bearer to get information concerning the presence of a bullet in the muzzle of the firearm. Moreover, the indicator member seems rather awkward and cumbersome, with a lengthy indicator hanging from the magazine that may inadvertently be pulled or engaged to the hand of the user or to other items, rendering the use of the magazine unsafe.
Practically most weapon bearers keep their magazines filled with bullets, leaving no room for extra bullets. As most of the time firearms are not used, but rather kept ready for use, an indication that the magazine is not fully loaded may literally save lives.
It is a purpose of the present invention to provide a novel magazine with an indicator for indicating the filling status of the magazine, i.e. indicating if the magazine is full with bullets or not. This in mainly in order to provide a warning to the firearm bearer as to the possibility of a bullet being present inside the muzzle of the firearm.
Yet another purpose of the present invention is to provide such magazine with an indicator for indicating the filling status of the magazine that can be used in many types or models of firearms.
Another purpose of the present invention is to provide the holder of a firearm with a fast and reliable indication of the filling status of the magazine even when it is inserted in the accommodating slot of the firearm.